Ron DeSantis blasted by George Santos, who claims he feels "used"

Washington DC - New York Representative George Santos slammed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in response to a campaign ad widely denounced as homophobic.

Congressman George Santos says he feels "misled" by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after the presidential hopeful release an ad that some say is homophobic.
Congressman George Santos says he feels "misled" by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after the presidential hopeful release an ad that some say is homophobic.  © Collage: Michael M. Santiago / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

The congressman was quoted by The Hill as saying that he feels "used" and "misled" by DeSantis after the release of the ad on Monday, which has been met with widespread criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.

"I used to think he was a great governor," Santos added. "Now, I’m starting to think differently."

Santos, who became the first openly gay Republican House Rep. when he was elected last year and defended DeSantis' Don't Say Gay bill while on the campaign trail, retweeted the video on Sunday, describing it as "some of the gayest crap I've ever seen."

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The ad meant to attack Donald Trump's record on trans and LGBTQ+ issues reveled in press coverage of DeSantis' extreme legislative agenda, interspersed with bizarre imagery that even includes a reference to Christian Bale's serial killer character in American Psycho.

In a recent interview with Fox News host Tomi Lahren, the governor defended the ad, explaining, "Identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream, where he was having men compete against women in his beauty pageants – I think that's totally fair game, because he's now campaigning saying the opposite."

Trump is still beating DeSantis in polls for the 2024 presidential race, and the ad hasn't helped at all.

Cover photo: Collage: Michael M. Santiago / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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